Content data supply system, content data supply apparatus and method, content data reproduction apparatus and method, and program

ABSTRACT

The present invention is to provides a content data supply system, a content data supply apparatus and method, a content data reproduction apparatus and method, and a program. The content supply system supplies content data from a content data supply apparatus to a content reproduction apparatus via a network. The content reproduction apparatus includes notification means, content list acquisition means, activation file acquisition means, content data acquisition means, and license data acquisition means. The content data supply apparatus includes customer information management means, content list generation means, activation file generation means, storage means, content data supply means, and license data supply means.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention contains subject matter related to Japanese PatentApplication JP 2004-149029 filed in the Japanese Patent Office on May19, 2004, the entire contents of which being incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a content data supply system, a contentdata supply apparatus and method, a content data reproduction apparatusand method, and a program and, in particular, it relates to a contentdata supply system, a content data supply apparatus and method, acontent data reproduction apparatus and method, and a program that arepreferably used for trading content data via a network, typically, theInternet.

In the past, there was a system for downloading content data by apersonal computer, cellular phone, and the like via a network,typically, the Internet. Further, there was an invention for downloadingcontent data repeatedly if the download had failed. (for example, seePatent Document 1.)

[Patent Document 1]

Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2001-256195

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, in the invention set forth in Patent Document 1, if thedownload of the content data had failed, the user was notified of thefailure of the download and prompted to instruct to perform the downloadagain and, the download was performed again in response to the user'sinstruction. Here, there was a problem in that such procedure was verycumbersome for the user.

Further, in the past, in the case in which the personal computer and thelike storing the content data failed after the content data had beendownloaded successfully, there was not a technique for allowing thecontent data to be downloaded again without being billed again.

Therefore, it is desirable that, when the download of the content datahas failed, the content data can be downloaded immediately without theneed of the user's operation.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided acontent supply system, wherein a content reproduction apparatusincludes: notification means for notifying a content data supplyapparatus via a network of commodity identification information foridentifying a commodity corresponding to a user's commodity selectionoperation; content list acquisition means for acquiring, from a contentdata supply apparatus, a content list that is a list of content dataincluded in the commodity and that includes information indicatingwhether or not the content data has been downloaded completely;activation file acquisition means for acquiring, from the content datasupply apparatus, an activation file including a site from which thecontent data included in the commodity is acquired and a site from whichlicense data associated with the content data is acquired; content dataacquisition means for acquiring the content data included in the contentlist but not downloaded yet from the content data supply apparatus basedon the activation file; and license data acquisition means for acquiringthe license data associated with the content data included in thecontent list but not downloaded yet from the content data supplyapparatus based on the activation file. The content data supplyapparatus includes: customer information management means for managing,for each user of the content reproduction apparatus, customerinformation including at least content identification information foridentifying the content data corresponding to the purchased commodityand download completion flags indicating whether or not the content datacorresponding to the purchased commodity has been downloaded completely;content list generation means for generating the content list based onthe commodity identification information notified from the contentreproduction apparatus and with reference to the customer information;activation file generation means for generating the activation filebased on the commodity identification information notified from thecontent reproduction apparatus; storage means for storing the activationfile generated by the activation file generation means and acquired bythe content reproduction apparatus; content data supply means fordownloading the content data to the content reproduction apparatus; andlicense data supply means for downloading the license data to thecontent reproduction apparatus.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided afirst content supply method including the steps of: notifying, in acontent reproduction apparatus, a content data supply apparatus via anetwork of commodity identification information for identifying acommodity corresponding to a user's commodity selection operation;generating, in a content data supply apparatus, a content list based onthe commodity identification information notified from the contentreproduction apparatus and with reference to customer information thatis managed for each user of the content reproduction apparatus and thatincludes at least content identification information for identifyingcontent data corresponding to the purchased commodity and downloadcompletion flags indicating whether or not the content datacorresponding to the purchased commodity has been downloaded completely;generating, in the content data supply apparatus, an activation fileincluding a site from which the content data included in the commodityis acquired and a site from which license data associated with thecontent data is acquired based on the commodity identificationinformation notified from the content reproduction apparatus; storing,in the content data supply apparatus, the activation file generated inthe activation file generation step and acquired by the contentreproduction apparatus; acquiring, in the content reproductionapparatus, the content list from the content data supply apparatus;acquiring, in the content reproduction apparatus, the activation filefrom the content data supply apparatus; acquiring, in the contentreproduction apparatus, the content data included in the content listbut not downloaded yet from the content data supply apparatus based onthe activation file; and acquiring, in the content reproductionapparatus, the license data associated with the content data included inthe content list but not downloaded yet from the content data supplyapparatus based on the activation file.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided acontent supply apparatus including: management means for managing, foreach user of a content reproduction apparatus, customer informationincluding at least content identification information for identifyingcontent data corresponding to a purchased commodity and downloadcompletion flags indicating whether or not the content datacorresponding to the purchased commodity has been downloaded completely;content list generation means for generating a content list based oncommodity identification information notified from the contentreproduction apparatus and with reference to the customer information;activation file generation means for generating an activation fileincluding a site from which the content data included in the commodityis acquired and a site from which license data associated with thecontent data is acquired based on the commodity identificationinformation notified from the content reproduction apparatus; storagemeans for storing the activation file generated by the activation filegeneration means and acquired by the content reproduction apparatus;content data supply means for downloading the content data to thecontent reproduction apparatus; and license data supply means fordownloading the license data to the content reproduction apparatus.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided asecond content supply method including the steps of: generating acontent list based on commodity identification information notified froma content reproduction apparatus and with reference to customerinformation that is managed for each user of the content reproductionapparatus and that includes at least content identification informationfor identifying content data corresponding to a purchased commodity anddownload completion flags indicating whether or not the content datacorresponding to the purchased commodity has been downloaded completely;generating an activation file including a site from which the contentdata included in the commodity is acquired and a site from which licensedata associated with the content data is acquired based on the commodityidentification information notified from the content reproductionapparatus; storing the activation file generated in the activation filegeneration step and acquired by the content reproduction apparatus;downloading the content data to the content reproduction apparatus; anddownloading the license data to the content reproduction apparatus.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided afirst program allowing a computer to perform a process including thesteps of: generating a content list based on commodity identificationinformation notified from a content reproduction apparatus and withreference to customer information that is managed for each user of thecontent reproduction apparatus and that includes at least contentidentification information for identifying content data corresponding toa purchased commodity and download completion flags indicating whetheror not the content data corresponding to the purchased commodity hasbeen downloaded completely; generating an activation file including asite from which the content data included in the commodity is acquiredand a site from which license data associated with the content data isacquired based on the commodity identification information notified fromthe content reproduction apparatus; storing the activation filegenerated in the activation file generation step and acquired by thecontent reproduction apparatus; downloading the content data to thecontent reproduction apparatus; and downloading the license data to thecontent reproduction apparatus.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided acontent reproduction apparatus including: notification means fornotifying a content data supply apparatus via a network of commodityidentification information for identifying a commodity corresponding toa user's commodity selection operation; content list acquisition meansfor acquiring, from the content data supply apparatus, a content listthat is a list of content data included in the commodity and thatincludes information indicating whether or not the content data has beendownloaded completely; activation file acquisition means for acquiring,from the content data supply apparatus, an activation file including asite from which the content data included in the commodity is acquiredand a site from which license data associated with the content data isacquired; content data acquisition means for acquiring the content dataincluded in the content list but not downloaded yet from the contentdata supply apparatus based on the activation file; and license dataacquisition means for acquiring the license data associated with thecontent data included in the content list but not downloaded yet fromthe content data supply apparatus based on the activation file.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided acontent reproduction method including the steps of: notifying a contentdata supply apparatus via a network of commodity identificationinformation for identifying a commodity corresponding to a user'scommodity selection operation; acquiring, from the content data supplyapparatus, a content list that is a list of content data included in thecommodity and that includes information indicating whether or not thecontent data has been downloaded completely; acquiring, from the contentdata supply apparatus, an activation file including a site from whichthe content data included in the commodity is acquired and a site fromwhich license data associated with the content data is acquired;acquiring the content data included in the content list but notdownloaded yet from the content data supply apparatus based on theactivation file; and acquiring the license data associated with thecontent data included in the content list but not downloaded yet fromthe content data supply apparatus based on the activation file.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided asecond program allowing a computer to perform a process including thesteps of: notifying a content data supply apparatus via a network ofcommodity identification information for identifying a commoditycorresponding to a user's commodity selection operation; acquiring, fromthe content data supply apparatus, a content list that is a list ofcontent data included in the commodity and that includes informationindicating whether or not the content data has been downloadedcompletely; acquiring, from the content data supply apparatus, anactivation file including a site from which the content data included inthe commodity is acquired and a site from which license data associatedwith the content data is acquired; acquiring the content data includedin the content list but not downloaded yet from the content data supplyapparatus based on the activation file; and acquiring the license dataassociated with the content data included in the content list but notdownloaded yet from the content data supply apparatus based on theactivation file.

In the content supply system and method according to an embodiment ofthe present invention, in the content data supply apparatus, a contentlist is generated based on commodity identification information notifiedfrom the content reproduction apparatus and with reference to thecustomer information that is managed for each user of the contentreproduction apparatus and that includes at least content identificationinformation for identifying content data corresponding to the purchasedcommodity and download completion flags indicating whether or not thecontent data corresponding to the purchased commodity has beendownloaded completely. On the other hand, in the content data supplyapparatus, based on the commodity identification information notifiedfrom the content reproduction apparatus, an activation file including asite from which the content data included in the commodity is acquiredand a site from which license data associated with the content data isacquired is generated and stored. Then, in the content reproductionapparatus, the content list and the activation file are acquired fromthe content data supply apparatus. Then, in the content reproductionapparatus, based on the activation file, the content data included inthe content list but not downloaded yet and the license data associatedtherewith are acquired from the content data supply apparatus.

In the content supply apparatus, method, and program according to anembodiment of the present invention, based on the commodityidentification information notified from the content reproductionapparatus, a content list is generated with reference to the customerinformation that is managed for each user of the content reproductionapparatus and that includes at least content identification informationfor identifying content data corresponding to the purchased commodityand download completion flags indicating whether or not the content datacorresponding to the purchased commodity has been downloaded completely.On the other hand, based on the commodity identification informationnotified from the content reproduction apparatus, an activation fileincluding a site from which the content data included in the commodityis acquired and a site from which license data associated with thecontent data is acquired is generated and stored.

In the content reproduction apparatus, method, and program according toan embodiment of the present invention, the commodity identificationinformation for identifying a commodity corresponding to a user'scommodity selection operation is notified to the content data supplyapparatus via a network. A content list that is a list of content dataincluded in the commodity and that includes information indictingwhether or not the content data has been downloaded completely isacquired from the content data supply apparatus. An activation fileincluding a site from which the content data included in the commodityis acquired and a site from which license data associated with thecontent data is acquired is acquired from the content data supplyapparatus. Further, based on the activation file, the content dataincluded in the content list but not downloaded yet and the license dataassociated therewith are acquired from the content data supplyapparatus.

According to the present invention, when the download of the contentdata has failed, the content data can be downloaded immediately withoutthe need of the user's operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of acontent supply system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of a userterminal of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of customer information managedby a customer information management section of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is the first half of a flow chart for describing operations topurchase content data;

FIG. 5 is the second half of the flow chart for describing operations topurchase content data;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an activation file describedusing XML;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a music list file describedusing XML;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart for describing recovery operations; and

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an exemplary configuration of ageneral-purpose computer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. Thecorrelation between the constituent features set forth in claims andspecific examples in the embodiments is exemplified as follows. Thisexemplification is intended to make sure that the specific examples setforth in the claims and supporting the invention are also set forth inthe embodiments of the invention. Therefore, even if there is aparticular example set forth in the embodiments of the present inventionbut not set forth here as that corresponding to a constituent feature,it does not denote that this particular example does not correspond tothe constituent feature. Conversely, even if a particular example is setforth here as that corresponding to a constituent feature, it does notdenote that this particular example does not correspond to any otherconstituent features than that constituent features.

Further, this exemplification does not denote that the inventioncorresponding to the specific examples set forth in the embodiments ofthe invention is included in the claims completely. In other words, thisexemplification is about the invention corresponding to a particularexample set forth in the embodiments and does not deny the existence ofany invention that is not set forth in the claims herein, namely theexistence of any invention that will be divisionally applied or added byamendment in the future.

In a content supply system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention (for example, a content supply system in FIG. 1),

a content reproduction apparatus (for example, a user terminal 1 inFIG. 1) includes:

notification means (for example, a communication section 58 in FIG. 2)for notifying a content data supply apparatus via a network of commodityidentification information for identifying a commodity corresponding toa user's commodity selection operation;

content list acquisition means (for example, a music list fileacquisition section 54 in FIG. 2) for acquiring, from the content datasupply apparatus, a content list that is a list of content data includedin the commodity and that includes information indicating whether or notthe content data has been downloaded completely;

activation file acquisition means (for example, an activation fileacquisition section 55 in FIG. 2) for acquiring, from the content datasupply apparatus, an activation file including a site from which thecontent data included in the commodity is acquired and a site from whichlicense data associated with the content data is acquired;

content data acquisition means (for example, a content/licenseacquisition section 56 in FIG. 2) for acquiring the content dataincluded in the content list but not downloaded yet from the contentdata supply apparatus based on the activation file; and

license data acquisition means (for example, a content/licenseacquisition section 56 in FIG. 2) for acquiring the license dataassociated with the content data included in the content list but notdownloaded yet from the content data supply apparatus based on theactivation file.

The content data supply apparatus (for example, a service providingapparatus 3 and a content supply apparatus 4 in FIG. 1) includes:

-   -   customer information management means (for example, a customer        information management section 32 in FIG. 1) for managing, for        each user of the content reproduction apparatus, customer        information including at least content identification        information for identifying the content data corresponding to        the purchased commodity and download completion flags indicating        whether or not the content data corresponding to the purchased        commodity has been downloaded completely;

content list generation means (for example, a supervising section 31 inFIG. 1) for generating the content list based on the commodityidentification information notified from the content reproductionapparatus and with reference to the customer information;

activation file generation means (for example, an activation filemanagement section 41 in FIG. 1) for generating the activation filebased on the commodity identification information notified from thecontent reproduction apparatus;

storage means (for example, an activation file storage section 33 inFIG. 1) for storing the activation file generated by the activation filegeneration means and acquired by the content reproduction apparatus;

content data supply means (for example, a content delivery section 42 inFIG. 1) for downloading the content data to the content reproductionapparatus; and

license data supply means (for example, a license delivery section 43 inFIG. 1) for downloading the license data to the content reproductionapparatus.

A content supply method according to an embodiment of the presentinvention includes the steps of:

notifying (for example, step S2 in FIG. 4), in a content reproductionapparatus (for example, a user terminal 1 in FIG. 1), a content datasupply apparatus (for example, a service providing apparatus 3 and acontent supply apparatus 4 in FIG. 1) via a network of commodityidentification information for identifying a commodity corresponding toa user's commodity selection operation;

generating (for example, step S24 in FIG. 4), in a content data supplyapparatus, a content list based on the commodity identificationinformation notified from the content reproduction apparatus and withreference to customer information that is managed for each user of thecontent reproduction apparatus and that includes at least contentidentification information for identifying content data corresponding tothe purchased commodity and download completion flags indicating whetheror not the content data corresponding to the purchased commodity hasbeen downloaded completely;

generating (for example, step S51 in FIG. 4), in the content data supplyapparatus, an activation file including a site from which the contentdata included in the commodity is acquired and a site from which licensedata associated with the content data is acquired based on the commodityidentification information notified from the content reproductionapparatus;

storing (for example, step S23 in FIG. 4), in the content data supplyapparatus, the activation file generated in the activation filegeneration step and acquired by the content reproduction apparatus;

acquiring (for example, step S25 in FIG. 4), in the content reproductionapparatus, the content list from the content data supply apparatus;

acquiring (for example, step S26 in FIG. 4), in the content reproductionapparatus, the activation file from the content data supply apparatus;

acquiring (for example, step S53 in FIG. 4), in the content reproductionapparatus, the content data included in the content list but notdownloaded yet from the content data supply apparatus based on theactivation file; and

acquiring (for example, step S56 in FIG. 4), in the content reproductionapparatus, the license data associated with the content data included inthe content list but not downloaded yet from the content data supplyapparatus based on the activation file.

A content supply apparatus (for example, a service providing apparatus 3and the content supply apparatus 4 in FIG. 1) according to an embodimentof the present invention includes:

management means (for example, a customer information management section32 in FIG. 1) for managing, for each user of a content reproductionapparatus (for example, a user terminal 1 in FIG. 1), customerinformation including at least content identification information foridentifying content data corresponding to a purchased commodity anddownload completion flags indicating whether or not the content datacorresponding to the purchased commodity has been downloaded completely;

content list generation means (for example, a supervising section 31 inFIG. 1) for generating a content list based on commodity identificationinformation notified from the content reproduction apparatus and withreference to the customer information;

activation file generation means (for example, an activation filemanagement section 41 in FIG. 1) for generating the activation fileincluding a site from which the content data included in the commodityis acquired and a site from which license data associated with thecontent data is acquired based on the commodity identificationinformation notified from the content reproduction apparatus;

storage means (for example, an activation file storage section 33 inFIG. 1) for storing the activation file generated by the activation filegeneration means and acquired by the content reproduction apparatus;

content data supply means (for example, a content delivery section 42 inFIG. 1) for downloading the content data to the content reproductionapparatus; and

license data supply means (for example, a license delivery section 43 inFIG. 1) for downloading the license data to the content reproductionapparatus.

A content supply method according to an embodiment of the presentinvention includes the steps of:

generating (for example, step S24 in FIG. 4) a content list based oncommodity identification information notified from a contentreproduction apparatus (for example, a user terminal 1 in FIG. 1) andwith reference to customer information that is managed for each user ofthe content reproduction apparatus and that includes at least contentidentification information for identifying content data corresponding toa purchased commodity and download completion flags indicating whetheror not the content data corresponding to the purchased commodity hasbeen downloaded completely;

generating (for example, step S51 in FIG. 4) an activation fileincluding a site from which the content data included in the commodityis acquired and a site from which license data associated with thecontent data is acquired based on the commodity identificationinformation notified from the content reproduction apparatus;

storing (for example, step S23 in FIG. 4) the activation file generatedin the activation file generation step and acquired by the contentreproduction apparatus;

downloading (for example, step S53 in FIG. 4) the content data to thecontent reproduction apparatus; and

downloading (for example, step S56 in FIG. 4) the license data to thecontent reproduction apparatus.

A content reproduction apparatus (for example, a user terminal 1 inFIG. 1) according to an embodiment of the present invention includes:

notification means (for example, a communication section 58 in FIG. 2)for notifying a content data supply apparatus via a network of commodityidentification information for identifying a commodity corresponding toa user's commodity selection operation;

content list acquisition means (for example, a music list fileacquisition section 54 in FIG. 2) for acquiring, from the content datasupply apparatus, a content list that is a list of content data includedin the commodity and that includes information indicating whether or notthe content data has been downloaded completely;

activation file acquisition means (for example, an activation fileacquisition section 55 in FIG. 2) for acquiring, from the content datasupply apparatus, an activation file including a site from which thecontent data included in the commodity is acquired and a site from whichlicense data associated with the content data is acquired;

content data acquisition means (for example, a content/licenseacquisition section 56 in FIG. 2) for acquiring the content dataincluded in the content list but not downloaded yet from the contentdata supply apparatus based on the activation file; and

license data acquisition means (for example, a content/licenseacquisition section 56 in FIG. 2) for acquiring the license dataassociated with the content data included in the content list but notdownloaded yet from the content data supply apparatus based on theactivation file.

A content reproduction method according to an embodiment of the presentinvention includes the steps of:

notifying (for example, step S2 in FIG. 4) a content data supplyapparatus via a network of commodity identification information foridentifying a commodity corresponding to a user's commodity selectionoperation;

acquiring (for example, step S25 in FIG. 4), from the content datasupply apparatus, a content list that is a list of content data includedin the commodity and that includes information indicating whether or notthe content data has been downloaded completely;

acquiring (for example, step S26 in FIG. 4), from the content datasupply apparatus, an activation file including a site from which thecontent data included in the commodity is acquired and a site from whichlicense data associated with the content data is acquired;

acquiring (for example, step S53 in FIG. 4) the content data included inthe content list but not downloaded yet from the content data supplyapparatus based on the activation file; and

acquiring (for example, step S56 in FIG. 4) the license data associatedwith the content data included in the content list but not downloadedyet from the content data supply apparatus based on the activation file.

Here, it is to be noted that the correlation between the constituentfeatures set forth in program claims of the present invention and thespecific examples in the embodiments of the invention is similar to thatexemplified above with regard to the content delivery method or thecontent reproduction method of the invention set forth above, thedescription of which is omitted.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments to which the present invention isapplied will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary configuration of a content supply systemaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. This content supplysystem is a household electrical appliance and includes a user terminal1 that reproduces content data (for example, audio data for reproducingmusic. The content data may be video data for reproducing video, programdata for executing specific processes, and the like.), a serviceproviding apparatus 3 that is a server on the Internet 2 for providing auser of the user terminal 1 with service for supplying the content(hereinafter referred to as the “content supply”), and a content supplyapparatus 4 that supplies the user terminal 1 with the content data andlicense data required for reproducing such content data.

The user terminal 1 connects with the service providing apparatus 3 viathe Internet 2 to transmit various information for acquiring contentdelivery service (user authentication information, billing information,and the like). Further, the user terminal 1 connects with the contentsupply apparatus 4 via the Internet 2 to download the content data andthe corresponding license data. The user terminal 1 stores thedownloaded content data and license data and reads and reproduces thestored content data. Here, the user terminal 1 is also operable tobrowse web pages established on any servers on the Internet 2 and tosend/receive e-mails. Further, the user terminal 1 may be operable toreceive and reproduce radio and TV broadcasts and reproduce content datarecorded on recording media such as DVD (Digital Versatile Discs), CD(Compact Discs), and MD (Mini Discs).

In the service providing apparatus 3, a supervising section 31 acceptsaccess from the user terminal 1 via the Internet 2 and sends HTML(Hypertext Markup Language) data and the like for displaying web pagesand the like where content data can be purchased. Further, in responseto requests from the user terminal 1, the supervising section 31controls each section of the service providing apparatus 3 and requestseach section of the content supply apparatus 4 to perform specifiedoperations. Still further, the supervising section 31 supplies the userterminal 1 with an activation file generated by an activation filemanagement section 41 in the content supply apparatus 4. (The activationfile will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 6.) Thisactivation file includes information indicating the site from which thecontent data purchased by the user of the user terminal 1 (downloaded bythe user terminal 1) is downloaded and the site from which thecorresponding license data is downloaded.

Still further, based on customer information managed by a customerinformation management section 32, the supervising section 31 generatesa music list file that is a file of the content data purchased by theuser of the user terminal 1 (downloaded by the user terminal 1) andsupplies it to the user terminal 1. (The music list file will bedescribed in detail below with reference to FIG. 7.) This music listfile includes content identification information for identifying thecontent data and information indicating whether or not the content dataand the corresponding license data has been downloaded properly.

The customer information management section 32 keeps and updatesinformation about the user of the user terminal 1 (the customer of thiscontent supply system). (This information will be hereinafter referredto as the “customer information”. It will be described in detail belowwith reference to FIG. 3.) Further, the customer information managementsection 32 keeps download historical information of the license data (alicense download log) with regard to the user terminal 1. An activationfile storage section 33 stores the activation files generated byactivation file management section 41 based on control by thesupervising section 31 and deletes the stored activation files inresponse to requests from the supervising section 31. A billingmanagement section 34 manages the amount charged to the user of the userterminal 1 (the customer of this content supply system) and the like.

In the content supply apparatus 4, based on requests from thesupervising section 31, the activation file management section 41generates the activation files for purchase, recovery, and the like. Inresponse to requests from the user terminal 1, the content deliverysection 42 delivers (downloads) the content data via the Internet 2. Adelivery management section 44 notifies the customer informationmanagement section 32 of sale confirmation. Further, the deliverymanagement section 44 notifies the customer information managementsection 32 of delivery completion of the content data and the licensedata.

FIG. 2 shows an exemplary configuration of the user terminal 1 indetail. Based on the user's operation, an operation input section 51generates control signal and supplies the generated control signal tocorresponding sections of the user terminal 1 via a bus line 52. Aninformation processing section 53 processes HTML data and the likeacquired by a communication section 58 and outputs resulted video signalto a display section 61. Further, the information processing section 53includes a music list file acquisition section 54, an activation fileacquisition section 55, a content/license acquisition section 56, and adownload (DL) determination section 57 therein and uses these includedsections to perform processing for acquiring the content data and thelicense data.

The music list file acquisition section 54 acquires and keeps the musiclist file from the supervising section 31 of the service providingapparatus 3 via the bus line 52 and the communication section 58. Theactivation file acquisition section 55 acquires and keeps the activationfile from the supervising section 31 of the service providing apparatus3 via the bus line 52 and the communication section 58. Based on theactivation file kept by the activation file acquisition section 55, thecontent/license acquisition section 56 acquires the content data fromthe content delivery section 42 of the content supply apparatus 4 andacquires the license data from the license delivery section 43 via thebus line 52 and the communication section 58. The download determinationsection 57 determines whether or not the content data has beendownloaded properly by the content/license acquisition section 56.

The communication section 58 connects with the service providingapparatus 3, the content supply apparatus 4, or arbitrary servers viathe Internet 2 to transmit various data. For example, based on theuser's operation for purchasing the content that is input to theoperation input section 51, the communication section 58 transmits theinformation about the content purchase to the supervising section 31 ofthe service providing apparatus 3 via the Internet 2.

A storage section 59 stores the content data and license data acquiredby the content/license acquisition section 56. According to the controlsignal from the operation input section 51 based on the user'soperation, a reproduction section 60 reads and reproduces the contentdata stored in the storage section 59 and outputs the resulting soundsignal through a speaker (not shown). Based on the video signal inputfrom the information processing section 53, the display section 61displays web pages and the like for purchasing the content.

FIG. 3 shows an example of customer information managed by the customerinformation management section 32 of the service providing apparatus 3.In the customer information, a user ID, a password, a nickname, billingIDs, music key numbers, content IDs, download (DL) completion flags, thenumber of possible recoveries, and the number of executed recoveries aremanaged in association with one another.

The user ID is identification information for uniquely identifying theuser of the user terminal 1. The password is information that is knownonly by the user and that certifies that the operation is performed bythe user himself/herself. The nickname is a name of the terminal 1 givenby the user. However, it is not permitted to give a plurality ofnicknames to one identical terminal. Therefore, when family members (aplurality of users) share one user terminal 1 in households, a pluralityof user IDs may be associated with one nickname.

The billing IDs are information for identifying payment completioninformation that is generated when the user purchases a package (apurchase unit of the content data). The package (purchase unit) mayinclude the content data for one musical piece or it may include thecontent data for a plurality of musical pieces (for example, in analbum). For example, when the user purchases a package of an albumincluding a plurality of content data, an identical billing ID isassociated with the plurality of content data included in the album.

The music key numbers are associated with the billing IDs in aone-to-one relationship. When the user purchases the package (purchaseunit of the content data) and completes the payment, the user isnotified the music key number via an e-mail and the like.

The content IDs are information for identifying the content datapurchased by the user. For example, when the user purchases a package ofan album including content data for 10 musical pieces, 10 content IDsare added and associated with one billing ID.

The download completion flags are information that are associated withthe content IDs and that are flags indicating whether or not the contentdata associated with the content IDs and the license data associatedwith such content data has been downloaded properly. A downloadcompletion flag set to 0 indicates that the download has been completedproperly. On the other hand, a download completion flag set to 1indicates that the download has not been completed properly.

The number of possible recoveries is information associated with thecontent IDs and indicates how many times the download of the contentdata and license data without repurchase (hereinafter referred to as the“recovery”) is permitted, for example, when the content data associatedwith a content ID and the license data associated with such content datahas been downloaded properly but, after that, the downloaded contentdata and license data has been deleted due to failure of the userterminal 1 or other problems. Its initial value is 0. When the usersends a request for recovery, the operator of the service providingapparatus 3 increments by 1 the number of possible recoveries associatedwith the content IDs of all content data purchased by such user.

The number of executed recoveries is information associated with thecontent IDs and indicates that how many times the recovery of thecontent data and license data associated with a content ID has beenexecuted. Its initial value is 0. Only when the recovery has beenexecuted successfully, the number of executed recoveries is incrementedby 1.

Here, it is to be noted that the number of possible recoveries and thenumber of executed recoveries may only be incremented but may not bedecremented. Therefore, if the number of possible recoveries is equal tothe number of executed recoveries, the recovery is not permitted. Incontrast, if the number of possible recoveries is larger than the numberof executed recoveries by 1, the recovery is permitted. The operator ofthe service providing apparatus 3 can know how many times the recoveryhad been executed by checking the number of executed recoveries.

Next, operations of the content supply system when the user of the userterminal 1 purchases contents will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIGS. 4 and 5. Here, it is assumed that the user of the userterminal 1 is a customer of this content supply system and that a userID and a credit card number for billing have already been registered.

In step S1, according to the user's operation, the user terminal 1accesses a web page for content purchase established by the serviceproviding apparatus 3 and selects the contents to be purchased. Morespecifically, the user inputs to the operation input section 51 anoperation for accessing the web page for content purchase. Based on thisoperation, the operation input section 51 outputs the correspondingcontrol signal to the communication section 58. Based on the controlsignal from the operation input section 51, the communication section 58accesses the service providing apparatus 3 via the Internet 2 andrequests HTML data of the web page for content purchase. In response tothis request, the supervising section 31 of the service providingapparatus 3 returns the corresponding HTML data to the user terminal 1via the Internet 2. Upon receipt of this, the communication section 58of the user terminal 1 outputs the received HTML data to the informationprocessing section 53. The information processing section 53 generates avideo signal corresponding to the input HTML data and outputs the signalto the display section 61. The display section 61 displays the inputvideo signal. On this displayed web page for content purchase, the userselects the contents to be purchased by package unit and inputs his/heruser ID and password and the like.

In step S2, via the Internet 2, the communication section 58 of the userterminal 1 notifies the service providing apparatus 3 of the package tobe purchased. In response to this, the service providing apparatus 3notifies the user terminal 1 of the content IDs of the content dataincluded in the package to be purchased.

In step S3, via the Internet 2, the communication section 58 of the userterminal 1 notifies the service providing apparatus 3 of the user ID,the password, the nickname, and the content IDs of the content dataincluded in the package to be purchased and requests purchaseauthentication.

In response to this request, in step S21, the supervising section 31 ofthe service providing apparatus 3 notifies the customer informationmanagement section 32 of the received user ID, password, nickname, andcontent IDs of the content data included in the package to be purchasedand confirms that the user requesting the content purchase is aregistered customer. The customer information management section 32 addsthe received content IDs of the content data included in the package tobe purchased to the customer information. At this time, the downloadcompletion flags associated with each content ID are set to 0(indicating that the download is not completed).

In step S4, the music list file acquisition section 54 of the userterminal 1 notifies the service providing apparatus 3 via thecommunication section 58 and the Internet 2 of a request for the musiclist file for purchase as well as the content IDs of the content dataincluded in the package to be purchased.

In response to this notification, in step S22, the supervising section31 of the service providing apparatus 3 notifies the content supplyapparatus 4 via the Internet 2 of the content IDs and requests to createan activation file for purchase. In response to this request, in stepS51, the activation file management section 41 of the content supplyapparatus 4 creates the activation file for purchase.

This activation file for purchase is information used by the userterminal 1 to download the purchased content data and correspondinglicense. As shown in FIG. 6, for example, this activation file forpurchase is described using XML (Extensible Markup Language).

The activation file for purchase includes one or more content IDs of thecontent data included in the package to be purchased (CID in FIG. 6), aURL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the site to be accessed fordownloading such content data (namely, the content delivery section 42of the content supply apparatus 4), data lengths of such content data(LENGTH in FIG. 6), identification information for identifying thelicense data necessary for reproducing such content data (SID in FIG.6), and a URL of the site to be accessed for downloading such licensedata (namely, the license delivery section 43 of the content supplyapparatus 4). The number of each item is equal to the number of thecontent data included in the package to be purchased.

Returning to FIG. 4, in step S52, the activation file management section41 of the content supply apparatus 4 supplies the generated activationfile for purchase to the supervising section 31 of the service providingapparatus 3 via the Internet 2. In step S23, the supervising section 31outputs the received activation file for purchase along with the user IDand other information to the activation file storage section 33requesting to store the activation file and other information. Inresponse to this request, the activation file storage section 33 storesthe activation file for purchase in association with the user ID.

In step S24, the supervising section 31 notifies the customerinformation management section 32 of the user ID and other informationand requests to notify of the status of the download of the content dataincluded in the package to be purchased by the user (namely, the statusof the download completion flags. Hereinafter, it will be referred to asthe “content information”.) In response to this request, the customerinformation management section 32 notifies the supervising section 31 ofthe content information. Based on the content information notified fromthe customer information management section 32, the supervising section31 generates the music list file for purchase.

This music list file for purchase is information used by the userterminal 1 to download the purchased content data and correspondinglicense. As shown in FIG. 7, for example, this music list file forpurchase is described using XML.

The music list file for purchase includes all content IDs of the contentdata included in the package to be purchased (Contents ID in FIG. 7),and a flag indicating whether or not such content data has beendownloaded (DLFlag in FIG. 7. The value 0 indicates that the downloadhas been completed and the value 1 indicates that the download has notbeen completed.)

Returning to FIG. 4, in step S25, the supervising section 31 suppliesthe music list file for purchase generated in step S24 to the userterminal 1 via the Internet 2. The supplied music list file for purchaseis stored in the music list file acquisition section 54.

In step S5, the activation file acquisition section 55 of the userterminal 1 notifies the service providing apparatus 3 via thecommunication section 58 and the Internet 2 of the identificationinformation of the package to be purchased and requests the activationfile for purchase.

In response to this notification, in step S26, the supervising section31 of the service providing apparatus 3 supplies the activation file forpurchase, which is generated by the content supply apparatus 4 andstored in the activation file storage section 33, to the user terminal 1via the Internet 2. The supplied activation file for purchase is storedin the activation file acquisition section 55.

The process proceeds to the second half of the flow chart of FIG. 5. Instep S6, the content/license acquisition section 56 of the user terminal1 accesses the URL for downloading the content data that is described inthe activation file for purchase (namely, the content delivery section42 of the content supply apparatus 4) to request the content data thathas the content IDs described in the music list file for purchase andthat has not been downloaded. In response to this request, in step S53,the content delivery section 42 of the content supply apparatus 4supplies (downloads) the requested content data to the user terminal 1 avia the Internet 2. The downloaded content data is stored in the storagesection 59 of the user terminal 1.

In step S7, the download determination section 57 of the user terminal 1determines whether or not the content data requested in step S6 has beendownloaded properly. If it is determined that the content data requestedin step S6 has not been downloaded properly, the process returns to stepS6 and repeats the operations after step S6.

In step S7, if it is determined that the content data requested in stepS6 has been downloaded properly, the process proceeds to step S8. Instep S8, the content/license acquisition section 56 of the user terminal1 accesses the URL for downloading the license data that is described inthe activation file for purchase (namely, the license delivery section43 of the content supply apparatus 4) to request the license dataassociated with the content data that has the content IDs described inthe music list file for purchase and that has not been downloaded.

In response to this request, in step S54, the license delivery section43 of the content supply apparatus 4 requests the sale confirmation(confirmation of billing to the user) to the delivery management section44. In response to this request, the delivery management section 44issues and sends the billing ID and corresponding music key numbers tothe customer information management section 32 of the service providingapparatus 3 via the Internet 2 to request the sale confirmation.

In response to this request, in step S27, the customer informationmanagement section 32 notifies the billing management section 34 of thebilling ID to request to change the billing status of the user. In thisstep, the billing to the user is confirmed.

In step S28, the customer information management section 32 notifiesthat the sale has been confirmed to the delivery management section 44of the content supply system 4 via the Internet 2. In response to thisnotification, in step S55, the delivery management section 44 requestsdownload completion notification (namely, requests to change thedownload completion flag to 1 and notifies of this change) to thecustomer information management section 32 via the Internet 2. Inresponse to this request, in step S29, the customer informationmanagement section 32 changes the corresponding download completion flagto 1 and, then, returns the download completion notification to thedelivery management section 44 via the Internet 2.

In response to this request, in step S56, the delivery managementsection 44 notifies to the license delivery section 43 that the saleconfirmation has been completed. In response to this notification, thelicense delivery section 43 supplies (downloads) the license datarequested in step S6 to the user terminal 1 via the Internet 2. Thedownloaded license data is stored in the storage section 59 of the userterminal 1.

In step S9, the content/license acquisition section 56 of the userterminal 1 notifies that the license data has been acquired completelyto the license delivery section 43 of the content supply apparatus 4 viathe communication section 58 and the Internet 2. In response to thisnotification, in step S57, the license delivery section 43 notifies thedelivery management section 44 of the completion of the acquisition ofthe license data. The delivery management section 44 requests thecustomer information management section 32 via the Internet 2 to updatethe license download log. In response to this request, in step S30, thecustomer information management section 32 updates the license downloadlog and, then, notifies the delivery management section 44 of thecontent supply apparatus 4 via the Internet 2 of this update. Receivingthis notification of the completion of the acquisition of the licensedata, the delivery management section 44 returns the response to thisnotification to the license delivery section 43.

Receiving this response, in step S58, the license delivery section 43notifies that a series of processes to download the content data andlicense data has been completed to the user terminal 1 via the Internet2. In response to this notification, in step S10, the activation fileacquisition section 55 of the user terminal 1 requests the supervisingsection 31 of the service providing apparatus 3 via the Internet 2 todelete the activation file for purchase maintained in the serviceproviding apparatus 3. In response to this request, in step S31, basedon the control from the supervising section 31, the activation filestorage section 33 deletes the stored activation file for purchase. Thesupervising section 31 notifies that the stored activation file forpurchase has been deleted to the user terminal 1 via the Internet 2.

Thus far, the operations of the content supply system when the user ofthe user terminal 1 purchases the contents have been completed.

When the series of operations described above has been completed, thecontent supply service provider sends the user of the user terminal 1 ane-mail including information to identify the purchased package (thecontent ID of the content data and the like), the date of purchase, thenickname, the payment method, the amount, the billing ID, the music keynumber, and the like. This e-mail may be received by the user terminal 1or, otherwise, it may be received by other apparatus such as a personalcomputer. However, the information included in the e-mail, among others,the music key number is important in that it is used for recoveryprocess described below and, therefore, it is desirable to save thisinformation in the personal computer and the like other than the userterminal 1.

In this connection, if the operations are interrupted by any cause suchas failure of the user terminal 1 and communication failure of theInternet 2, the processes starting from the step S1 will be performedagain. However, in this case, the processes of steps S22, S51, and S52or, more specifically, the processes in which the service providingapparatus 3 requests the content supply apparatus 4 to create theactivation file for purchase and, then, the content supply apparatus 4creates the activation file for purchase and requests the serviceproviding apparatus 3 to store the activation file are omitted. In thiscase, the activation file for purchase that has been created in theprevious times and stored in the activation file storage section 33 isread out and reused.

Therefore, when the processes starting from step S1 are performed again,the processing time can be reduced by the time required for theprocesses of steps S22, S51, and S52.

On the other hand, the music list file for purchase is not reused but itis generated every time the processes starting from step S1 areperformed. Therefore, if a portion of data has been downloaded properlybefore the operations are interrupted as described above, a newlygenerated music list file for purchase reflects this condition. Morespecifically, in the newly generated music list file for purchase, thedownload completion flags for the data portion downloaded properly areset to 1. Therefore, it is possible to prevent that the supply of thealready downloaded content data is requested uselessly.

Next, a recovery process of the user terminal 1 will be described. Therecovery process refers to a process for providing all purchased(downloaded) content data and license data again when the purchasedcontent data and license data has been lost or otherwise damaged due tofailure of the user terminal 1 or other problems. Here, it is to benoted that the recovery process can be applied to the user terminalowned by the user who had purchased the content data. (It may be arepaired user terminal that had downloaded the data once but lost itentirely due to failure or other problems or, for example, it may be auser terminal newly bought by the user.)

Operations for the recovery process of the content supply system will bedescribed with reference to a flow chart of FIG. 8.

First, when the user detects failure of the user terminal 1 or otherproblems and recognizes the need for the recovery process, as apreparation for this recovery process, the user may have to request theservice provider to make the recovery process available. This requestmay be made via telephone, e-mail, and the like by notifying ofinformation that can identify the user, such as a user ID, a nickname,an e-mail address, a music key number, and the like. If it can beverified that this request is made by the user himself/herself, theoperator of the service provider increments by 1 all values of thenumber of possible recoveries included in the customer information ofthe user concerned, which is managed by the customer informationmanagement section 32 of the service providing apparatus 3, and notifiesthe user of a URL of a dedicated web page for the user to instruct thestart of the recovery process (more specifically, for example, aspecified URL of the supervising section 31 of the service providingapparatus 3).

This dedicated web page for the user is provided with a “recovery startbutton” that appears only when the recovery process is permitted to theuser concerned (when the number of possible recoveries is larger thanthe number of executed recoveries for some content IDs).

In step S71, based on the user's operation, the user terminal 1 accessesthe URL notified by the operator of the service provider and displaysthe dedicated web page established thereon. When the user clicks the“recovery start button” appearing on the web page, in step S72, the userterminal 1 requests the supervising section 31 of the service providingapparatus 3 via the Internet 2 to start the recovery.

In response to this request, in step S81, the supervising section 31inquires of the customer information management section 32 about therecovery status of the user. More specifically, the supervising section31 inquires about the content IDs, billing IDs, music key number, andthe like of the content data permitted to be recovered (namely, contentdata having the number of possible recoveries larger than the number ofexecuted recoveries) in the customer information of the user managed bythe customer information management section 32. In step S82, thesupervising section 31 notifies the user terminal 1 via the Internet 2of the inquiry result in step S81.

In response to this notification, in step S73, the activation fileacquisition section 55 of the user terminal 1 requests via thecommunication section 58 and the Internet 2 an activation file forrecovery for one package of the recoverable content data from theservice providing apparatus 3. In response to this request, in step S83,the supervising section 31 of the service providing apparatus 3 requeststhe content supply apparatus 4 via the Internet 2 to create theactivation file for recovery for one package to be recovered. Inresponse to this request, in step S91, the activation file managementsection 41 of the content supply apparatus 4 creates the activation filefor recovery.

In step S92, the activation file management section 41 of the contentsupply apparatus 4 supplies the generated activation file for recoveryto the supervising section 31 of the service providing apparatus 3 viathe Internet 2. In step S84, the supervising section 31 outputs thesupplied activation file for recovery along with the user ID and otherinformation to the activation file storage section 33 requesting tostore the activation file and other information. In response to thisrequest, the activation file storage section 33 stores the activationfile for recovery in association with the user ID.

In step S85, the supervising section 31 of the service providingapparatus 3 supplies the activation file for recovery created by thecontent supply apparatus 4 and stored in the activation file storagesection 33 to the user terminal 1 via the Internet 2. The suppliedactivation file for recovery is stored in the activation fileacquisition section 55.

In step S74, the content/license acquisition section 56 of the userterminal 1 accesses the URL for downloading the content data that isdescribed in the music list file for recovery (namely, the contentdelivery section 42 of the content supply apparatus 4) to request thecontent data included in the package to be recovered. In response tothis request, in step S93, the content delivery section 42 of thecontent supply system 4 supplies (downloads) the requested content datato the user terminal 1 via the Internet 2. The downloaded content datais stored in the storage section 59 of the user terminal 1. On the otherhand, the download determination section 57 of the user terminal 1determines whether or not the requested content data has been downloadedproperly. Till it is determined that the content data has beendownloaded properly, the request for the download and the correspondingsupply is repeated.

In step S75, the content/license acquisition section 56 of the userterminal 1 accesses the URL for downloading the license data that isdescribed in the activation file for recovery (namely, the licensedelivery section 43 of the content supply apparatus 4) to request thelicense data. In response to this request, in step S94, the licensedelivery section 43 supplies (downloads) the requested license data tothe user terminal 1 via the Internet 2. The downloaded license data isstored in the storage section 59 of the user terminal 1.

In step S76, the activation file acquisition section 55 of the userterminal 1 instructs the supervising section 31 of the service providingapparatus 3 via the Internet 2 to delete the activation file forrecovery maintained in the service providing apparatus 3. In response tothis request, in step S86, based on the control from the supervisingsection 31, the activation file storage section 33 deletes the storedactivation file for recovery. Further, based on the control from thesupervising section 31, the customer information management section 32increments by 1 the number of possible recoveries associated with thecontent data downloaded properly, which is included in the customerinformation for the user concerned. At this time, in the customerinformation for the user, if the number of possible recoveries is equalto the number of executed recoveries for each content ID, there is nocontent data permitted to be recovered and, therefore, the “recoverystart button” does not appear on the web page for recovery dedicated forthe user.

In step S87, the supervising section 31 notifies that the storedactivation file for recovery has been deleted completely to the userterminal 1 via the Internet 2.

In step S77, the user terminal 1 inquires of the supervising section 31of the service providing apparatus 3 via the Internet 2 about therecovery continuation status of the user.

In response to this request, in step S88, the supervising section 31inquires of the customer information management section 32 about therecovery continuation status of the user. More specifically, it ischecked whether or not the content IDs of the content data permitted tobe recovered are included in the customer information of the usermanaged by the customer information management section 32. In step S89,the supervising section 31 notifies the user terminal 1 via the Internet2 of the check result in step S86.

In step S78, based on the result notified by the supervising section 31,the content/license acquisition section 56 of the user terminal 1determines whether or not to continue the recovery. At this time, if thecontent IDs of the content data permitted to be recovered are included,it is determined to continue the recovery and, on the contrary, if thecontent IDs of the content data permitted to be recovered are notincluded, it is determined not to continue the recovery. If it isdetermined to continue the recovery in this step S78, the processreturns to step S73 and repeats the operations after step S73.

If it is determined not to continue the recovery in step S78, theprocess proceeds to step S79. In step S79, the information processingsection 53 notifies that the recovery process has been completed to theuser, for example, by allowing the display section 61 to display apredetermined indication. Thus far, the description of the recoveryprocess by the content supply system has been completed.

Here, it is to be noted that the user can interrupt the recovery processdescribed above at any timing. Further, the recovery process can berestarted from the content data whose download has been interrupted. Inparticular, when the package whose download has been interruptedincludes a plurality of content data, the recovery process can berestarted from any part of the package for each content data.

In this connection, the processes of the user terminal 1, the serviceproviding apparatus 3, and the content supply apparatus 4 describedabove may be performed by either hardware or software. When the seriesof processes is performed by software, a program constituting thesoftware is installed from a recording medium on a computer built indedicated hardware or a general-purpose personal computer such as, forexample, the one shown in FIG. 9 that can perform various functions byinstalling various programs.

This personal computer 80 includes therein a CPU (Central ProcessingUnit) 81. The CPU 81 is connected to an input/output interface 85 via abus 84. The bus 84 is connected to a ROM (Read Only Memory) 82 and a RAM(Random Access Memory) 83.

The input/output interface 85 is connected to an input section 86including input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, and the like forallowing the user to input operation commands, an output section 87including displays such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) or LCD (LiquidCrystal Display) for displaying images of web pages and so on, a storagesection 88 including a hard disk drive and the like for storing contentdata, license data, and so on, and a communication section 89 includinga LAN (Local Area Network) adaptor and the like for performingcommunication processing via a network, typically, the Internet 2.Further, the input/output interface 85 is connected to a drive 90 forreading/writing data on a recording medium 91 such as a magnetic disk(including a flexible disk), an optical disc (including a CD-ROM(Compact Disc-Read Only Memory), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or asemiconductor memory and so on.

The program for allowing this personal computer to perform theabove-described processes, which is stored in the recording medium 91,is supplied to the personal computer and, then, read by the drive 90 andinstalled on the hard disk drive built in the storage section 88. Theprogram installed in the storage section 88 is loaded from the storagesection 88 to the RAM 83 and executed according to instructions from theCPU 81 corresponding to commands input to the input section 86 by theuser.

In this specification, the steps performed based on the program includenot only processes performed chronologically in the sequence ofdescription but also processes performed not always chronologically butin parallel or separately.

Further, the program may be processed by one computer or may beprocessed in a distributed manner by a plurality of computers. Stillfurther, the program may be transferred to a remote computer to beexecuted.

Further, in this specification, the term “system” refers to entireequipment including a plurality of apparatuses.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

1. A content supply system for supplying media content from a contentsupply apparatus to a content reproduction apparatus via a network,wherein the content reproduction apparatus comprises a processorconfigured to perform a method, the method comprising: notifying thecontent supply apparatus via the network of IDs of media content itemspurchased by a user; acquiring, from the content supply apparatus, acontent list associated with the user of the purchased media contentitems, the content list indicating whether the purchased media contentitems have been downloaded by the user completely; receiving, from thecontent data supply apparatus, an activation file associated with theuser for downloading the purchased media content items; requestingdownload of the purchased media content items based on the activationfile; and requesting download of the license for the purchased mediacontent items based on the activation file, and the content data supplyapparatus comprises a processor configured to perform a method, themethod comprising: managing, for each user of the content reproductionapparatus, customer information including the IDs identifying thepurchased media content items and download completion flagscorresponding to the IDs indicating whether the purchased media contentitems have been downloaded by the user to the content reproductionapparatus completely; generating the content list based on the customerinformation, the content list associating the IDs of the purchased mediacontent items with the corresponding download completion flagsindicating whether the purchased media content items have beendownloaded by the user completely; identifying, based on the IDs of thepurchased media content items and the corresponding download completionflags of the content list, media content items purchased by the user butnot downloaded completely by the user; generating the activation filefor downloading the identified media content items, the activation fileincluding a first uniform resource locator (URL) for a first site fromwhich the identified media content items can be downloaded and a secondURL, different from the first URL, for a site from which the license forthe identified media content items can be downloaded; downloading, tothe content reproduction apparatus, the identified media content itemsusing the activation file and in response to the content downloadrequest from the content reproduction apparatus; and downloading, to thecontent reproduction apparatus, the license for the identified mediacontent items using the activation file and in response to the licensedownload request from content reproduction apparatus.
 2. A contentsupply apparatus for supplying media content to a content reproductionapparatus via a network, comprising: a processor configured to perform amethod, the method comprising: managing, for each user of the contentreproduction apparatus, customer information including IDs identifyingmedia content items purchased by the user and download completion flagscorresponding to the IDs indicating whether the purchased media contentitems have been downloaded by the user to the content reproductionapparatus completely; generating a content list associated with the userbased the customer information, the content list associating the IDswith the corresponding download completion flags indicating whether thepurchased media content items have been downloaded by the usercompletely; identifying, based on the IDs of the purchased media contentitems and the corresponding download completion flags of the contentlist, media content items purchased by the user but not downloadedcompletely by the user; generating an activation file associated withthe user for downloading the identified media content items, theactivation file including a first uniform resource locator (URL) for asite from which the purchased media content items can be downloaded anda second URL, different from the first URL, for a site from which alicense for the identified media content items can be downloaded;downloading, to the content reproduction apparatus, the identified mediacontent items using the activation file and in response to a requestfrom the content reproduction apparatus; and downloading, to thereproduction apparatus, the license for the identified media contentitems using the activation file and in response to a request from thecontent reproduction apparatus.
 3. A method for supplying media contentto a content reproduction apparatus via a network, comprising: managing,for each user of the content reproduction apparatus, customerinformation including IDs identifying media content items purchased bythe user and download completion flags corresponding to the IDsindicating whether the content items have been downloaded by the user tothe content reproduction apparatus completely; generating a content listassociated with the user based on the customer information, the contentlist associating the IDs of the purchased media content items with thecorresponding download completion flags indicating whether the purchasedmedia content items have been downloaded by the user completely;identifying, based on the IDs of the purchased media content items andthe corresponding download completion flags of the content list, mediacontent items purchased by the user but not downloaded completely by theuser; generating an activation file associated with the user fordownloading the identified media content items, the activation fileincluding a first uniform resource locator (URL) for a site from whichthe identified media content items can be downloaded and a second URLfor a site from which a license for the identified media content itemscan be downloaded; downloading, to the content reproduction apparatus,the identified media content items using the activation file and inresponse to a request from the content reproduction apparatus; anddownloading, to the content reproduction apparatus, the license for theidentified media content items using the activation file and in responseto a request from the content reproduction apparatus.
 4. A contentsupply apparatus for supplying media content to a content reproductionapparatus via a network, comprising: a management section managing, foreach user of the content reproduction apparatus, customer informationincluding IDs identifying media content items purchased by the user anddownload completion flags corresponding to the IDs indicating whetherthe purchased media content items have been downloaded by the user tothe content reproduction apparatus completely; a content list sectiongenerating a content list associated with the user based on the customerinformation, the content list associating the IDs of the purchased mediacontent items with the corresponding download completion flagsindicating whether the purchased media content items have beendownloaded by the user completely; activation file section: identifying,based on the IDs of the purchased media content items and thecorresponding download completion flags of the content list, mediacontent items purchased by the user but not downloaded completely by theuser; generating an activation file associated with the user fordownloading the purchased media content items, the activation fileincluding a first uniform resource locator (URL) for a site from whichthe identified media content items can be downloaded and a second URL,different from the first URL, for a site from which a license for theidentified media content items can be downloaded; a content supplyingsection downloading the identified media content items, using theactivation file, to the content reproduction apparatus; a licensesupplying section downloading the license for the identified mediacontent items, using the activation file, to the content reproductionapparatus; and a processor executing the management section, the contentlist section, the activation file section, the content supplyingsection, and the license supplying section.